A 1989 batch-IAS officer of Rajasthan cadre, Mr. Rajeshwar Singh, is known for his work for the development of the villages and panchayats in Rajasthan in a career span of almost 32 years. However, the officer, who is at present the Chairman of Revenue Board, is very humble and does not like publicity. He prefers to work in silence and let his work do all the talking.
He is also a prolific writer and started writing during the covid lockdowns when he got ample free time. He is considered a highly sensitive writer with high emotional quotient, whose writings reflect his ardent desire to work for the betterment of society. During a conversation with Indian Masterminds, Mr. Singh shared some of his best experiences on the field as a bureaucrat.
VILLAGE DEVELOPMENT & ADULT EDUCATION
Mr. Singh served in various districts and regions of Rajasthan including Mount Abu, Jalore, Jaipur, Udaipur in various capacities, as either SDO, Collector or Divisional Commissioner. He was also the Principal Secretary of Small Industry, Transport, Tourism and Animal Husbandry and, also, served as the Additional Chief Secretary for Panchayati Raj and Rural development.
In all his postings, he undertook initiatives which were crucial for the development of the region. When asked to share his best experiences, he replied: “The tenure as the DM, Jalore, was really satisfying. We organized village development camps every third month and visited the panchayat committee office. Our focus was to know the grievances of public and note down the infrastructure gaps like school, road connectivity and drinking water facility etc. We sanctioned relevant programs to develop the infrastructure accordingly. This was really effective and people in Jalore still have affection towards me.”
He also started a campaign on adult education in the district with the help of volunteers. The volunteers were assigned literacy centers where they educated people by referring to three primer books so that the older people also get the basic knowledge. For this work, his team got the Satyen Maitreya National Literacy Award. He also initiated a similar literacy program in Jaipur which was primarily focused on continuous literacy.
CHANGED THE FACE OF PANCHAYATS
Development of villages has been his favourite area of work. He started various initiatives like Gram Bandhu Yojna in Jaipur where officers from different departments where assigned particular panchayats and their role was to monitor the development in those areas.
To beautify the public places and ponds, he initiated Shri Sthal and Shri Sarovar Yojna in Jaipur. He also started Aadarsh Sehkar Gram Yojna while being posted in Coorperative department and Gandhi Gram Yojna during his tenure in Watershed department. The Gandhi Gram Yojna was initiated to implement all departmental schemes on a priority basis in villages.
Among all these schemes, the most successful was ‘Ek Gram Char Kaam’. Talking about it, he said, “I was in Panchayati Raj and Rural Development when we worked on this program. The idea was that every village should have four things – grassland, pond, playground and crematorium. Accordingly, our team did the development work in every village. Almost 13 thousand villages were completed during my tenure and the program is still going on. I always try to motivate people to look for ways to develop our villages. After all, the heart of India lies in the villages only.”
